Ok, before I get into what the above is all about, I just wanna say that I really hope everyone had themselves super enjoyable/rewarding/relaxing Memorial Day weekends! For the most part, the weather ’round here was ridiculously gorgeous, and it seemed pretty hard not to have a good time, regardless of what we were doing. In fact, just stepping outside made my day. Though playing a little tennis and getting half my body into a pool certainly didn’t hurt matters. What does that mean? That means that I was faced with frigid pool waters, and I was the only one – among numerous children – who could not get my body to dip past the belly button point. What I had always believed to be the most difficult body part to submerge, the “undercarriage,” was already safely tucked beneath the icy surf. But the water remained intolerable. Mind you, six-year-olds with arm floaties were all around me, having a collective ball. And I’m sure none of them quite understood or cared about what I was going through. I seriously hung there, perched with my ass beneath the water line. Oh, the shame. (For the record, it was really, really cold.)

But I did push the fiancé in the pool about five times. That was awesome. Mainly because I always waited until his body had warmed sufficiently to make the cold water startling again. Good times!! (;

Anyway, y’all know how much I love Martha Stewart, right? Well, it’s almost as much as I love southern dialects. But seriously, I cherish Martha Stewart Weddings for all the DIY goodies and inspiration the resource always has to offer. So I decided to sort through it all and I’ve collected a hefty bunch of my favorites for your consideration. I hope you love!

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So, you see those jam jars up top? Ok, well I am OBSESSED with their lid labels. Completely obsessed. Jam jars are such a popular idea for weddings these days, and these labels are my current favorite way to top them! Get the clip art here!

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Totally in lust with this idea. Make your girls their very own lace clutches! How gorgeous are these? Not to mention crazy simple to create – all there is to do is print the clip art onto heat-transfer paper, then just iron the designs onto fabric! Get the clip art here!

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I seriously covet these monogram labels; they’re just perfect for your favor boxes, and whatever else you’d like to monogram! :) Get the clip art here!

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I absolutely adore these place card designs and highly recommend them for your wedding. They’re really quite elegant, and all you need to do is print them on preperforated card stock. Done and done! Get the clip art here!

How about creating your own uniquely designed cookie tins with Martha’s download-and-print doily labels? I know – so cute. They come in red, blue, and green, too. Get the clip art here!

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I am in love with the beauty of these custom Blueprint wrapping papers!!! I think they’d look amazing as part of your decor. There are five in all, and only Martha has them. Pretty rad. Get them here!

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Last but not least, there’s this too adorable cookie gift sleeve label. You have a whole bunch of different label options, for pretty much any occasion (for a wedding, go with “for you to enjoy“). All you’ll need besides the clip art are CD envelopes and adhesive paper. Get the clip art here!

So, what do you think? Do any of these catch your eye as a fabulous DIY? I’m curious what you guys think!

After at least a month of server error messages, random admin logouts and a constantly spotty at best site connection, GoDaddy FINALLY admitted yesterday that it’s their servers, and not anything we’re doing wrong. This, after being told upwards of 40 times that it’s something we’re doing wrong. I kid you not. Upwards of 40 times. Finally, after much anguish and through-the-night-every-night-troubleshooting on our part, downloading and restoring databases, uninstalling, installing and reconfiguring plugins, tears (yeah, I cried a lot, I’ll admit it), GoDaddy revealed yesterday that “certain servers are not functioning properly.” That my site “is on the list of affected sites.” That they’ve “got their best guys on the job.” Progress thus far? “Umm, well we haven’t solved it yet.” When will it be solved – ballpark? “We can’t seem to pinpoint the problem, because, you see, we aren’t seeing the error messages that everyone else is seeing outside of our network. So we’re having trouble figuring out why the servers are malfunctioning… but we’re hard at work on it.” Can you do something, like migrate me to a new server that isn’t shitty? “No, nope, we can’t do that. Sorry.” Really? “Yeah, sorry. That’s not something we can do.” Oh.

Can you stand it?

I can’t anymore. So I’m letting the world know, after too many sleepless nights and lost traffic.

GoDaddy is dishonest and chooses to blame the customer for its own failures. The people on the front lines have been as kind as possible, but their supervisors have perpetuated a cover-up, and are hardly if at all concerned with customer satisfaction.

That’s all for now. Just thought I should spread the word at this point, since I am now aware that this is a widespread problem, and that GoDaddy is not making efforts to alert anyone affected.

Lastly, THANK YOU to everyone who contacted me to see what was wrong with the site and where it disappears to at random times throughout the day. I can’t tell you how much we’ve appreciated your concern. Thanks so much for caring! At least we finally have the knowledge that weren’t doing anything wrong this whole entire time. But it certainly doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

I’ll be providing updates, mostly on twitter, regarding GoDaddy’s behavior and how things progress as far as how we decide to proceed from here. I hope there aren’t too many of you experiencing these same issues! It’s traumatizing, truly.

Hope you’re having a decent Friday so far! (I’m sure that depends entirely upon the time of day you are reading this.) In any case, let’s get started, shall we?

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So, today’s first Fab Find comes from Christine and Vania, the fab duo of SimplyBloom. I don’t think it’s possible for these ladies to produce anything less than perfection. Would you agree? I mean, just look at this image:

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Now, I am interrupting this installment of Friday’s Fab Finds to bring you a quick bit of titillating info before we move on… As many of you know, I went a little insane with a bucket of Nutella recently. See: this post, and my Twitter feed on that day (which I will NOT link to because it is craziness). Well, based on our brief white chocolate love affair and its aftereffects, I have a newsflash. However, please note that this is by no means based on scientific data of any sort. Only my personal experience. My personal, fantastic experience. But I say with certain confidence – both in the truth of this, and a different, new-found confidence I remember having in college – that Nutella makes your two friends to the north larger. By two cup sizes, to be precise. There, I said it. I feel the need, however, to warn you not to overindulge unless you are willing to accept that this effect may be singular to me. To my lucky freaking a$$. Aaaaand now that I’ve bragged I’m sure they will go away soon. Well, I’m not sure, but most good things do, so I’m basing that assumption off of experience. Like when they took away my favorite flavor of Progresso soup. Or the time they discontinued my favorite flavor of Wishbone salad dressing. WHY DO THEY DO THIS ALL THE TIME? Am I alone in this pain? Me and my heaving bosom?

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Next up, the freebie you’ve all been hearing about… Complimentary tickets for readers of The Knotty Bride from the fabulous ladies of The Wedding Salon!!! I know! How great is this?! The event is Monday, May 3, 2010 at The London West Hollywood. To grab yourself these free tickets, just click here, then click “Register for this Event” and use promo code: KBLAC – that’s it! Woot! The ladies of Wedding Salon put on spectacular events, and my friends and I always have loads of fun. You do not want to miss this, TRUST. You’re seriously in for a blast… not to mention endless wedding inspiration, which is kind of the point.

This next find made me jump a little in my chair when I first saw it. Pretty much just like everything else the Wedding Chicks do. I mean, right when I think they’ve given us the best free printable ever, they come out with a little something like AIRPLANE SAVE-THE-DATES. Check it:

Want your own? Go make it, now! Oh, and you might be interested to know that they came out with another save-the-date printable, and it’s Mad Men inspired. You’re welcome.

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How ’bout some sexy lingerie? Yeah, it’s been too long since the last time I displayed a couple of near-naked bods on this here blog. The wait is over:

Alright, Happy Friday, my lovelies! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed the finds this week, and I hope you have splendid things in the works for your weekends… like relaxing, and sitting, and lying down in the grass and stuff like that. (Can you tell I’ve had a hectic week?) Speaking of chillaxing, I’m listening to this song as I write these closing remarks. It’s soothing to the nth degree. Soooooothing. In my opinion, at least. And this song is fantastic, sad sad sad, but simply fantastic.

By the way, which of today’s Fab Finds is your absolute favorite?! I’m a little bit curious. ;)

All I can think of to say is THANK YOU, Amy and Jocey! You two are helping us ramp up that pretty factor in our lives, AND saving countless trees in the process, now that we don’t have to go and carve our names in actual trees anymore! Thank goodness, because that is soooo 50s! Plus, with Earth Day ’round the corner, this is exactly the kind of thing we need.

Oooh, did I mention the color combination options? Because there are many, and they are AWESOME.

It was extremely fun to make this. Which I know sounds ridiculous, but it was, it really was.

So, want a piece of this interactive graphic action? Who am I kidding, of course you do! Click here to create your own custom heart + arrow monogram right now, over on the Wedding Chicks blog!

In the meantime, check out some photos Amy took depicting all the cool stuff you can do with your custom monogram (ideas included below: invitations, envelopes, labels, menus and table numbers):

He’s just an adorable little reminder that Easter fast approaches! It’s THIS Sunday, April 4, as if you didn’t know. I love Easter, for myriad reasons… the main one is coming up in the next post, today. But a huge reason I love it is because, every year, we celebrate by heading out to my Aunt and Uncle’s house, and eating ham and turkey and sweet potatoes and carrot cake (or pudding, maybe?) and all that other fare synonymous with Easter… as well as with Christmas and Thanksgiving. (It’s interesting how all those holidays sort of share the same meal. Why change up a good thing, I guess. Though it’s not that good. Though I’ve never had a food dream – which seems odd now that I’m writing it out – I feel confident that it wouldn’t involve turkey and ham.)

Next find is from yvestown: an Easter bunny cozy! I have much love for this.

I am adoring the heck out of these vintage Easter labels from Suzee Que. She’s constantly uploading such fun and lovely labels. It’s always a thrill to check in and see what she’s got. In fact, I’ve got a post involving her labels coming up in the very near future that I KNOW, absolutely KNOW, you’re gonna go apes*** over.

And, finally, Mowielicious brings us home with some of the most delicious looking things I think I’ve ever seen. Though, I should disclose that Cadbury Mini Eggs and macarons are kind of my favorite things going in this world, edible wise.

After experiencing Issue #1, I was itching to see what the gals of Nonpareil Magazine had in store for us with Issue #2. What’s the complete opposite of being disappointed? I am that.

Totally inspiring. Like, the definition of inspiring. A color palette so powerful it actually makes me feel good when I linger on it. Prop and set styling that make me go gaga and – icing on the cake, people – downloadable printable templates… for free.

Here, check out some more eye candy. Don’t you just want to eat up the pictures?

Yummo.

This is some good stuff, m’friends. It’s entire minutes of fun over there! (That may not seem like a compliment, but trust me, it is – and it’s a huge one at that. I normally spend seconds on all of my daily reads and the countless new discoveries I make throughout the day. So, finding something that can hold my attention for whole minutes – and many of them – is, for me, kind of a big deal.)

Love all of this...

Have you ever felt like you’ve found your long lost twin – a separated at birth, or maybe from-another-mother kinda deal – just upon reading a couple of posts on a blog that’s new to you? It’s a funny feeling, a new level of awesomeness, because it’s like finding an old friend without ever having met her.

By the way, if you haven’t already deduced that STDs stands for Save-the-Dates, well then you’re probably not planning a wedding at the moment. I must say that I have struggled with that unfortunate acronym for quite some time. I don’t care if that other thing it used to stand for is now officially known as “STI” – no matter, because it will ALWAYS denote an angry nether region to me, and I’m not really into sounding like I’m trying to put a freshly acquired infection on blast when all I’m doing is sharing some pretty wedding paper.

If these were my save-the-dates, I’d have a HECK of a time deciding on just one to send out. So I’m not shocked that she’s been facing the same issue.

Lauren, I wish you barrels of luck making a decision. You have your work cut out for you. And by the way, it’s never too late for a save-the-date as beautiful as any of these. I’d be plum delighted to receive one in the mail… even if it followed the invitation. The prettiness you’ve created here is beyond compare.

Aaaand these little gems, too, ‘cuz they’re adorable and I need to get it out of my system…

I like that one ‘cuz that’s where I am. :)

I realize V-Day’s, like, a second away, and you can’t exactly get them in time for the Day of Cuddles, but I just HAD to show you those – I hope you understand. They’re too precious for words. Okay, now we move to desserts… these you can still whip up in time!

If you’re a fiend for projects and printables today, how about some love note candy wrappers? These pastel printable delights – made especially for Valentine’s Day – were created by who else but one of my idols, Ez (of Creature Comforts) and her amazing partner, Marichelle, both of the super cute online shop, Nice Package. I love them!!!

This is what the printable PDF looks like; click here to visit Nice Package for the download!

By the way, I caught a glimpse of these lovely postage stamps on Paper Pastries and fell madly for them.

I’ve seen most of these from afar, on wedding invitations and the like, but I’ve never actually seen them all together like this, and they officially need to be in my life.

I don’t even necessarily need a letter, I just want these stamps; somebody, please, get me these stamps.

I really got a kick out of seeing this super cute light bulb Valentine idea Arwen O’Reilly Griffith from Craft found over at Design*Sponge! How absolutely perfect is this, especially for maybe the handyman in your life? (Assuming that your significant other is the handyman. It might be awkward to gift this to your hired handyman, though I’m certain he’d appreciate it.)

If you’re serious about this project, it’s a pretty comprehensive tutorial; down to instructions on hollowing out a lightbulb… so, since I know nothing about that, visit Arwen’s post or get thee to Design*Sponge to begin turning old crap into new sap! (You know, ‘sap,’ as in sappiness… as in the essence of V-Day… maybe I’m just cracking myself up here.)

Another cute thing, followed by another craft thing, then I’m done, I PROMISE (for now, at least… and I crossed my fingers anyway so whatev); how cute are these Kraft Address Labels from Paper Pastries?

LOVE.

I think this is great, so I thought I’d share it with all of you in case anyone’s looking to deliver a tiny little gift in a super cute way:

It’s called a “jar of hearts” and it’s by Jessica Wilson. Click here for the how-to! I found it over at CRAFT, a great place for, well, crafting. :)

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Okay my dear, dear friends… I think that’s quite enough for now. It’s just that I found SO MUCH amazing stuff and, well, my world is one of all or nothing/go big or go home… which translates into bringing back everything I love, with nary an exception. Time-consuming for me, pretty good deal for you, eh? ;)

With that said, I’m going to return to enjoying the heck out of my new haircut. I feel like a brand new woman! Haircuts: highly recommended. Lots of love to everyone! I hope your weekends are warm and fuzzy.

Valentine’s Day is this Sunday (!!!) and if it’s chilly in your neck of the woods, you might find yourself challenged in the cute outfit department. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Just throw on a simple red scarf like Katie did in her engagement session with Marianne Taylor of Marianne Taylor Photography, and watch your entire look go from ho-hum to va va voom!

But then again, maybe the chill factor isn’t as much of an issue for you. If that’s the case, then I envy you, but more importantly I have the most beautiful engagement session to share with you, which I discovered – where else – on the always inspiring Style Me Pretty. The stunning photography is by lunaphoto, and while it may be a little too nippy out there, even in Cali, how could I NOT bring this loveliness to your eyes…

So, as usual, I was looking for more really cute, chic details for my upcoming nuptials, and I think I’ve found yet another one worth sharing.

Striped paper straws. A crowd favorite, dating all the way back to childhood. I can’t be the only one who blew bubbles in my chocolate milk when a wee babe. I’m totally invested (mentally, we’ll see about budget-ly) in these cutie-patooties.

I found those super cute ones above over at Design is Mine, and I didn’t just get excited, I pretty much flipped out. After this long, it still amazes me how aggressively the adrenaline within me can race throughout my body the moment I see something as insignificant as a paper straw. I think it has something to do with all the colors and choices. If there’s one thing I love, it is having options. (They are also my downfall; I am indecisive as a rule. But we all love the things that are not the best for us, so I’d say that makes me normal. At least… that’s what I tell myself when I go to bed at night.) Anyway, I choose not to question it. Especially since, when I go with it, I always end up in my happy place!

It might interest you to know that the person responsible for the photographic bliss above is food/prop stylist Paul Lowe, and it might interest you even more to know that he has an incredibly addictive blog, called Sweet Paul. Oh, how I heart him.

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Okay, so we’ve established one fact so far: paper straws rule. Especially colorful, striped ones. But now we need something deserving of said straws, right? How about THIS…

Want to get your hands on some colorful pop for your big day? Project Wedding – which is where I found the awesomeness immediately above – suggests BevMo. Located in CA, they’ve got a wide selection of these super cute specialty sodas (and if you don’t live in CA, you can buy ‘em online – gotta love the internet). You can also check in your local gourmet food shop for these uniquely joyful-looking drinks. So, they’re around! You just may have to do a little searching depending on where you’re located. :)

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Next are some awesome pics by Cindy Ensley, which I discovered via the lovely Audrey of Urbanic + Parcel Post. (My original description of Audrey involved “the pretty paper pusher,” but I thought it made her sound like some sort of fetish drug dealer, which seemed like a bad thing. So “the lovely” it is. And lovely, you are, Audrey!)

I know, SO cute. Word on the ‘net is that you can find these babies over at Kikkerland. It’s a great source for stuff like this; I visit the place quite a bit. Not to mention, pretty much everyone I credited within this here post suggests the same. Aside from Kikkerland, you can check out Pipii’s Marketplace, which carries the exact same brand.

In other news, check out Cindy’s save the dates -

Absolutely darling, wouldn’t you agree? And totally DIY-licious. You’ll probably be familiar with her supplies - she used one of Martha’s punch sets, kraft paper (you already know the feelings I have for kraft paper), some AWESOME rubber stamps and white embossing powder. See, all it takes are a few simple tools, and a lot of imagination and creativity!

Okay, just one more pretty picture of my new love:

Found these cherry red beauties over on Jordan Ferney’s Oh Happy Day! I’m sure you could figure out a way to work those stunners into a Valentine’s Day party, or even better, a love-themed wedding. Though that’s what all weddings should be themed. Oh sappy me; that’s just how I like to end things. On a sap note!

Oh, hello again! I didn’t see you there. Back for thirds, I see. Well, you’re in for some good news, buddy. I think it’s safe to say I’ve had a 1 – 2 – 3 PUNCH of post prettiness as far as pretty posts go these days. (If I do say so myself.) And my excitement level about this third one is off the charts…

Speaking of charts (yeah, I just did that), how perfect are these for getting in the Valentine’s Day spirit? They’re Love Charts, loosely and lovingly adapted from your typical doctor’s eye chart… AND I LOVE THEM.

I have these free printables, but I haven’t yet created something as darling as this satchel (above) I discovered while flipping through designinglee‘s photostream (which I found while perusing some craft photostreams – talk about inspiration overload, by the way).

Look what else she did with it! This girl is officially one of my soul sistas.

I know you want to know how to get your hands on this, and I’m excited to tell you! Good relationship, we have here. It’s from ink-bloom! Go ahead, check them out. You get the free printable when you sign up for their emails!!! I am so plugging them for free right now. How nice am I?

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So, I hope y’all are having yourselves a fabulous Friday thus far. However, if that’s not exactly how you’d describe your day, then I’m betting this will cheer you right up…

I found this remarkably beautiful, drool-inducing Valentine’s Day dessert buffet – created by the amazing Amy Atlas – during what turned out to be a very exciting visit to the ultimate foodie mecca, Hostess with the Mostess.

I’m a big fan of Amelia Lyon’s work. I’ve featured her before, in one of my favorite wedding photography posts so far.

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And now, a little Bakerella love…

Wanna give someone in your life a big ol’ KISS? Let me recommend Bakerella’s Hershey-but-actually-Oreo Kisses! It’s a sort of hybrid delight, that you’re gonna like. I guarantee it. But I can’t guarantee you’re gonna like the way you look if you eat too many. So make sure you give ‘em away, mostly.

Isn’t this super? They look like Hershey’s Kisses… they act like Hershey’s Kisses… but they taste like… well I don’t know what they taste like because I haven’t yet made them. But the answer’s probably good.

Take a trip on over to Bakerella, and try your hand at these Kiss-tastic treats.

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Hey, guess what?

HERE’S ONE MORE!

A pretty printable – for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

These beautiful DIY favor labels are sooooo perfect if you place them on one of my favorite things in the whole wide world: brown paper bags! (Yes, you’re right – I’m easily pleased.)

I found these printable labels on Flights of Fancy, a lovely blog brought to you by the Betsywhite Stationery Boutique. It’s focus is on – you guessed it – wedding stationery. GOT TO LOVE that.

Here are the tools you’ll need to make your own:

- brown paper lunch bags from the grocery store (if you go to Michael’s you’ll find them, too, but they’re a little bit pricier than those at the grocery store)

Instead, let’s start with the loveliest free printable V-Day postcard you’ve ever seen. I’m assuming. Because this is pretty freakin’ lovely, and I haven’t been this ticked by a postcard picture in YEARS. Thank you, Wedding Chicks, for this masterpiece theater! Go get it here!